Huawei reports strong sales push 2017 profit up 28.1 percent

By JOE McDONALDMarch 30, 2018

In this May 26, 2016 photo, security personnel stand near a pillar with the Huawei logo at a launch event for the Huawei MateBook in Beijing. Huawei Technology Ltd., the Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment maker, said Friday, March 30, 2018, that its 2017 profit rose 28.1 percent, boosted by strong sales for its enterprise and consumer units. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The company headquartered in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen is the No. 3 global seller of smartphones behind Samsung Electronics Ltd. and Apple Inc. It competes with Sweden’s LM Ericsson for the status of biggest maker of network equipment used by phone and internet companies.

Huawei, founded in 1987, is owned by its employees, with no publicly traded shares, but reports financial results in an effort to allay security concerns in the United States, Europe and Australia.

The company had planned to announce its first distribution agreement with a U.S. carrier in January but that was canceled without explanation. News reports said the carrier was AT&T Inc. and the company backed out due to pressure from U.S. authorities.

Huawei and Honor smartphone brands shipped 153 million handsets last year for total sales of 237.2 billion yuan ($37.8 billion), a 39.1 percent increase, the company said. Sales of cloud, data center and other enterprise products and services rose 35.1 percent to 54.9 billion yuan ($8.7 billion).